Utrecht
The Utrecht was the Netherlands largest warship during WW2. Larger than the preceding Holland-class of battleships, and the succeeding Amsterdam-class Battlecruiser. Originally built as the German Mackensen-class battlecruiser Yorck, after the close of WW1, the Yorck was an incomplete hull. However, to help make immediate war reparations, the Yorck sat until 1922. During the famous 1922 Battleship Auction, Yorck was bid on by several nations, but was ultimately bought by Netherland. Due to the post war technicalities, Krupp Works had to take the turrets that had been set aside for the Mackensen and instead installed them on the Utrecht. Inter War Period Netherland took delivery in 1927, when the hull of the ship itself was already 10 years old. However, with little need for refit, the Utrecht served with pride in the Danish Navy. The Utrecht was deployed several times to the Pacific as during *Goodwill* tours (I.E. show of force) to the Danish East Indies Colonies. However, it was quickly discovered during the initial voyage that the Utrecht had relatively awful sea keeping abilties, with the entire fore section of the ship, from the 'Anton' Turret forward was constantly wet from breaking waves. This was due to the Straight deck, as the Mackensen-class was primarily intended for service in the North Sea. Additionally, the lack of A/C or any Ventilation (particularly in the lower engine levels) led to hellish conditions in the lower decks. 14 boiler room servicemen would collapse due to heat exhaustion, and 3 would later die as a result. As such, the Utrecht was forced to keep her speed extraordinarily low to keep temperatures in the engine room down. Utrecht would continue to make at least one annual voyage to the Dutch Colony of Java. In 1933, the Utrecht would undergo a relatively major refit. Utrecht would have her hull drastically altered, with a Atlantic Bow drastically increasing her sea keeping abilities. Additionally, an A/C system would be installed for her lower decks, and would be one of the first warships to be equipped with such. World War 2 At port in Amsterdam when Germany invaded on May 10th, 1940, the Royal Family would escape onboard her. The rest of the Danish fleet would either be sunk/scuttled in the immediate invasion, or immediately deployed to Indonesia. During the daring escape to Britain, Luftwaffe pilots attacked her, but her meager 3.5in Flak guns managed to starve off much of the enemy attack. Regardless, she suffered a minor bomb explosion aft of turret "Dora". Once docked in Britain, the fate of what to do with the Utrecht was heavily contemplated. As Britain did not have any 13.5in guns in service, they would be unable to even adapt the Utrecht's guns to fire a UK spec 13.5in round. Eventually it was decided that she would be deployed to Dutch East Indies fleet. An old manufacturing facility in Indonesia was converted into a 13.5in production facility, and Utrecht departed from Scapa flow September 21, 1940, arriving in Indonesia in January 14, 1941. During the transit, the Utrecht was heavily damaged, as she was never intended as a true 'blue-water' ship, as she had been originally designed by the germans to serve primarily in the North Sea. Even once she arrived, her crew served in hellish conditions. The ships A/C was not designed to operate in the tropical climate, and her eletronics were contiously haywired due to the humidity. On top of all that, the boilers and furnaces struggled in the humidity, and the coal from Indonesia was not to the same quality as the European, leading to lack of power. During the next several months, she would patrol the Danish waters. As Japan became more and more aggresive towards Netherland, on December 8, 1941, Netherland declared war on Japan, thinking its small, but concentrated fleet of 2 battleships, and 3 battlecruisers would manage to defend Indonesia. When Japan launched an attack on Miri, the Utrecht, Holland, and Prinds Christian Frederik were deployed to fend off the attack from IJN Amagi, IJN Sōryū, and several other ships. However, with their inadequate AA, the fleet would be heavily hit by Air attack. Taking 4 torpedos, and 3 bombs, the Utrecht was essentially knocked out of combat immediately. The subsequent attacks would sink the Prinds Frederik, and cripple the Holland. However, the Holland would be able to retreat back to Java, before fleeing to Australia, the only Danish ship to survive the invansion. By luck, the Utrecht managed to stay afloat, and would later be scuttled by Japanese forces. She would capsize in 150m of water. Due to her staying afloat, only 400 men died, many of which died during the intial attack. Sadly, around 600 men would be taken as prisoner of war by the Japanese, and of that number, only 8 sailors would survive till the end of the war. Category:Danish Navy Category:Battlecruiser